On this day in 1972, New York Mayor John Lindsay stepped in to defend John Lennon in his immigration case

Lennon had been fighting a case to deport him since late 1971 on the grounds of being unable to renew his visa due to a marijuana possession conviction he picked up in a police raid in 1968. 

Lennon hired lawyer Leon Wildes to defend him, and he promptly called to attention the fact that the raid on Lennons home found hashish, which is not technically marijuana, to the amusement of the court. He was also responsible for bringing to light the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s (INS) policies on prosecutorial discretion and non-priority status, which had allowed the INS to pick and choose who it targeted through the use of secretive procedures.

Many believe Lennon was targeted due to his activist tendencies and the fears they caused the Nixon administration who were concerned about his effect on the next election. Lennon had been actively outspoken on political issues and was encouraging a mass voter registration amongst younger people. 

New York Mayor John Lindsay called the case a “grave injustice” and numerous others in the music industry stepped in to defend Lennon. The case was later won in October 1975 after a lengthy battle. Lawyer Leon Wildes went on to teach classes about the case, which had become a landmark trial. Their effort has since been called an important part of the legal foundation that the Obama government relied on to defer the deportation of more than 580,000 immigrants who had been illegally entered into the country as children.